Characteristics of Server.Workstations and servers are variations of a personal computer designed for applications that require multiple users. What points do they have in common and how are they different?
What is a server?
The word server is a translation of the English signifier “Server” and its origin dates back to before the era of personal computers where time-sharing computing existed, in which a central computer served the calculations to the different terminals that were connected to the local network. Thus, the first obvious difference between a server and a workstation is that the former aims to deliver its power not only to a single user but to several simultaneously.
10 Characteristics of Server You Must Know
A server today is used for several functions:
- It can be used as a file server to be accessed through an FTP application for file transfer.
- To store and manage email for a company.
- As a web server, storing a web page and its services.
- To run an application remotely for one or more users.
- Storing a large database where access by several consultants to it is required.
- Currently they tend to be made up of dozens of cores per CPU, the most advanced have reached 64 and some even 128. That is why they are large processors with complex infrastructures. In some cases, there may be multiple processors on a server.
- A large number of cores requires a large amount of memory, if currently two channels of DDR4 memory are used or four in the case of DDR5, in workstations we have to quadruple both figures.
- They use memory modules with data correction system.
- Server CPUs are designed to run all the time and therefore their cores are not designed to reach very high performance peaks in the form of clock speeds.
- The I / O system in a server is several times more complex, since technically they have to operate as several different computers and that is why they tend to have a greater number of PCI Express, SATA, USB interfaces compared to a workstation or a personal computer.
It must be clarified that any PC with the appropriate operating system can become a server, but it will do so on a smaller scale in terms of power, an example is there are users who have set up a server for Minecraft using a simple home PC.
